Not Tonight
by ncis-tivotee
Summary: A short snippet on what happens on the eve of the beginning of the the courtroom proceedings that could potentially put the future of Team Gibbs in jeopardy. Tag to "Double Blind" - 10x23.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the character of NCIS and other blah!**

**NOT TONIGHT**

"One scotch on the rocks!" announced the bartender as he passed the glass along to Tony.

"Thanks Matt," replied Tony with his trademark grin though this one didn't quite reach his eyes as they usually do. He swivelled around in his chair taking a small sip of his drink to face the others gathered at the bar tonight.

As far as he remembered, this was the first time every single member of the team was in here at the same time. Usually, when they met up for drinks after work, which happened fairly often, someone or the other failed to make it. But tonight was different. It was ironic because starting tomorrow they may no longer be co-workers or members of Team Gibbs.

Everybody's future hung in balance as the investigation into the team's questionable methods, employed to solve cases, had put their careers at risk. Seemed like they weren't about to get away with it this time around as had always been the case in the past. The court proceedings were getting underway tomorrow.

He knew that the others were here for the same reason as him. They wanted to forget, if only for a few hours, about their worries regarding the future and enjoy each other's company. And it even looked like it was working; Ducky was sharing an anecdote on his time in Minsk, Palmer seemed to be drinking in his every word, Gibbs and Vance were carrying on a casual conversation in a corner, McGee had his new tablet out and was absorbed in solving a complex looking number puzzle helped by Abby who was giving him a steady stream of instructions that was often punctuated with "whoops" and "woohoo" which McGee was finding more annoying than helpful by the minute. And then there was Ziva, watching them with a soft smile on her face, catching his eye from time to time although she had not talked too much.

He emptied his glass in one go and ordered for a refill. Watching them, chatting and sharing laughs, he was filled with so much warmth and love for these people who had become such a big part of his life that they were basically family. It was a popular belief that you don't realize the real value of something you have until the day you realize that you can't have it any longer. It wasn't true in his case, though. Every single day, he was thankful to be able to step into his workplace which was his home and spend his time with them. It was for this very reason that he was completely at peace with not having a life outside of work; he simply didn't need one.

NCIS was a part of who he was. The mere thought of having all that taken away from him in the near future scared him way more than he was willing to admit to himself.

"It's just not fair," he thought, with a slight shake of his head. They were the good guys. They were the reason for putting so many wanted criminals, who were a menace to the society, behind bars. It shouldn't matter what means they used to achieve their ends. He sighed heavily, as he realized that was simply not how things worked.

"Yes!" McGee's exclamation halted his train of thought and he looked up to see Abby hi-fiving McGee and proceeding to hug him senseless, shouting, "Yay, McGee. That's a new high score". He couldn't help the big smile on his face watching the scene unfold. Ziva was laughing along too, that only made his smile even wider.

"Way to go, McGoo! Wait... did I just congratulate you for some super nerdy thing that you did? Wow, it must be the alcohol talking," he said making McGee pout and get all defensive, telling exactly why it was something that warranted appreciation while Abby and Ziva continued laughing.

As they settled down into a comfortable silence again, Palmer got up from his seat, looking slightly unsure of himself. "Uh, guys... I have an announcement to make. I didn't know if this was the right time to let you all know given all the... uh... you know what I mean. But given that we are all here, I thought... Anyway, the thing is, Breena and I are expecting," he finished, smiling from ear to ear.

"Wow, that's great news." "Congratulations, Mr. Palmer." "Awesome!" "Alright, Jimmy." All of them chorused as their faces lit up in genuine happiness over Palmer's news. For some reason that he couldn't explain, he found himself watching Ziva, closely, for her reaction. She hugged Palmer but he was the only one who noticed how her eyes were tinged with tears, how she blinked them back rapidly and gulped, making his heart clench painfully. As he moved to shake Palmer's hand, he offered her his own drink as she hadn't ordered anything for herself. She took it gratefully and thanked him without, quite, meeting his eyes.

"Thanks, you guys. Breena and I are so excited. It's been so crazy, you know? Everything's happening so fast, it's kind of scary," voiced Palmer.

"You have to be if you want to be a good parent," replied Gibbs. "Since we missed your wedding last year, Palmer, I've been working on a little something to give you, like a belated present, you know..."

"No way! You made us a boat?!" said Palmer, sounding almost hopeful.

"Ah, you wish, Palmer," said Gibbs with a crooked smile, as Palmer deflated from his temporary high.

Tony moved to sit beside Ziva and she stiffened a little feeling his eyes on her. "You okay?" he asked, keeping his voice low so that only she could hear.

"I'm fine," came her reply almost instantly. She refused to meet his eyes and instead, took to gazing deeply into the depths of her, now empty, glass.

"You know that would be far more convincing if you hadn't said it at the drop of a hat every single time when you weren't really okay, don't you?"

He sighed heavily seeing that he wasn't going to get her to answer him. He decided he'd had enough of this as he stood up, took the glass out of her hands and replaced it with his own smoothly and pulled her up.

Ziva was hit by a sense of deja-vu. "Tony, what are you doing?" she whispered, warily.

"You won't talk. Fine. Dance with me. I quite enjoyed our first time in Berlin," said Tony, pulling her to the dance floor oblivious to the raised eyes and surprised looks that followed them. Ziva, while being guided to the dance floor, couldn't help looking back at the others.

"Everyone's here and..."

"I don't care," cut in Tony, though his voice wasn't harsh. Her eyes snapped back to his face and her mouth was slightly open as she began to comprehend what this really meant. She saw him avert his gaze to give Gibbs a swift nod of his head and turned in time to catch Gibbs return the gesture slowly.

And twice within a week, he had her in his arms again although it felt like their first dance had happened ages ago and this time felt so very different. They moved lazily, in tune with the slow music playing in the background. He took the time to enjoy the feel of her hand in his, slowly interlacing his fingers with hers. They were too high-strung to enjoy these little things the last time they had a go on the dance floor, not this time though. As she moved to loop her hands around his neck, he placed his lips to her widow's peak. He could feel her relaxing in his arms and pulled back to see a tiny smile playing on her lips, her eyes still closed. He pressed his forehead to hers and let his eyelids drop as he shut himself from the rest of the world. He tightened his grip on her, pulling her close, letting himself get washed away by the music and her.

Soon, their noses were touching and their lips, only inches apart. After an agonizingly long second, he closed that gap. It was a soft, short kiss almost like he was testing the waters and yet it was the most intimate one he had had in a very long time. He was taken aback by how simple it had actually been, given the amount of yearning and the doubts he'd had to struggle with to get there. As he moved to pull back, she grabbed him by his tie and kissed him passionately, running her fingers through his hair, he didn't know for how long. They pulled back finally, slightly out of breath as their eyes fluttered open, completely overwhelmed by what had just transpired. They found in each other's eyes the confirmation that this is exactly where they wanted to be.

She placed her head gently on his heart and whispered softly, "Everything is about to change. What happens then?"

"We deal with things as they happen and we find a way to get through, as we always do, as a team," replied Tony. "But we'll gt to that later. Not tonight."

And she knew he wasn't just talking about the legal stuff that they were all about to face. "Until then?" she queried, almost sounding like a little girl. She didn't usually let people see her like this, but tonight was different.

He bent his head to inhale her hair and placed light kiss on her head, this was starting to get so ridiculously easy. "We keep dancing."

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A/N: Thank you for reading. This is only my second story and I quite enjoyed writing this one. I'd love to hear anything that you have to say about the fic and as I always say, I am open to criticism. So hit that review button.


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